1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disassembly route producing apparatus for searching, using a simulation, for a disassembly route for disassembling a product, consisting of a plurality of components, into individual components; an assembly route producing apparatus for producing an assembly route, using the disassembly route producing apparatus, in which the disassembly route, obtained by the disassembly route producing apparatus, is reversely traced, and a supporting system for mechanical system design for supporting a design of a product consisting of components capable of being assembled without any collision of components, using the disassembly route producing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, it is becoming frequent that a three-dimensional CAD system is used to perform a product design. In case of a complicated product consisting of a large number of components, however, assembly operations on the components of the product become complicated. Thus, there will happen such a situation that it is difficult even for a person of experience to assemble the components at the stage of a design owing to an occurrence of a collision with another component.
According to the conventional CAD system for a mechanism design, it is possible that the designed components are arranged at arbitrary positions and in arbitrary postures as if a product is apparently assembled. However, in order to avoid the situation as mentioned above, there is a need to actually manufacture components constituting the product or models of the components by way of trial and assembly of those fragments.
In view of the foregoing, it is desired to provide an automatic assembly route producing system capable of simulating whether a designed product can actually be assembled or disassembled, without actually manufacturing the product by way of trial.
A system for inspecting whether an assembly is feasible by a simulation is not yet in a practical stage, and is still in a stage of a study. With respect to such a system, in general, there is adopted a scheme in which a disassembly route starting from a state of a product after assembly, the disassembly route involving no occurrence of a collision (contact of components), is searched for on the basis of information as to components designed with using a three-dimensional CAD system and assembly arrangement of the components, and a route wherein the disassembly route involving no occurrence of a collision is reversely traced is given in the form of an assembly route (cf. "GEOMETRIC REASONING ABOUT MECHANICAL ASSEMBLY, Randall H. Wilson Jean-Claude Latombe, Stanford University, Artificial Intelligence 71 (2), December 1944", and "AN EFFICIENT SYSTEM FOR GEOMETRIC ASSEMBLY SEQUENCE GENERATION AND EVALUATION, Bruce Romney, Stanford University, Proc. 1995 ASEM. Intl Computers in Engineering Conf., pp. 699-712").
Further, methods of detecting the existence of a collision through a collision check, or evaluating the closest distance between components have been proposed by Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Gazettes Hei. 7-134735, Hei. 8-77210, Hei. 9-27046, etc.
In those manner, there have been performed a study of producing an assembly route by a simulation. In the event that an apparatus for producing such an assembly route is actually constructed, it becomes a problem that how a high speed simulation is carried out while entering an operator's will and how a result of the simulation is offered in a form which is easy for the operator to see.